Roofing panel with interlocking edges



July 15, 1969 P. WIKLUND ROOFING PANEL WITH INTERLOCKING EDGES 5 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Dec. 4, 1967 JW Per w z'klunal July 15,1969 RWIKLUND 3,455,070

ROOFING PANEL WITH INTERLOCKING EDGES Filed Dec. 4, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 Per We'kiu nd July 15, 1969 P. WlKLU ND 3,455,070

ROOFING PANEL WITH TNTERLOCKING EDGES Filed Dec. 4, 1967 .5 Sheets-Sheet 5 Pe r MkZund July 15, W59 P. WIKLUND 3,455,070

ROOFING PANEL WITH INTERLOCKING EDGES Filed Dec. 4, 1967 5 Sheets-Sheet 4 Per M a'klu Md July 15, 1969 P. WIKLUND 3,455,070

ROOFING PANEL WITH INTERLOCKING EDGES v Filed Dec. 4. 1967 s Sheets-Sheet 5 Per- I I/(Hand United States Patent 3,455,070 Patented July 15, 1969 U.S. Cl. 52-127 11 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Roof elements, adapted to be laid in side-by-side relation to one another, each comprise a lower bottom member, upstanding side members of N-shaped cross-section to permit the side members of adjacent such roof elements to interengage one another, and an upper roofing sheet arranged to be locked to the roofing sheets of adjacent roof elements and so secured to its associated roof element as to be movable in relation thereto to compensate for temperature changes.

This invention relates to roof elements and particularly to prefabricated or pre-assembled roof elements of metal sheets.

In the building industry, heretofore, one of the problems has been to produce a roof element which can be manufactured completely in a factory, is easy to mount at the building site and has light weight. Besides, the element had to meet normal requirements from a strength point of view. I

Heretofore, attempts have been made to use different wood constructions which usually only form a support for the final roofing with tiles, roofing felt free of maintenance, asphalt, sheet metal a.s.o. For these pre-fabricated roof elements of wood, thus, the roofing had to be carried out at the building site after the elements had been mounted. This method is unsuitable from many aspects and increases the building costs.

Among other known roof constructions the most widely ments. Even for this type of roof constructions the final roofing, which preferably comprises several layers of glued roofing felt or asphalt, has to be carried out later on and under very favourable weather conditions, because otherwise the lightweight-concrete, or the insulation layer in other types of constructions, would be damaged by rain or snow.

used is made of pre-fabricated lightweight-concrete ele- Summary The present invention has as its object to produce a roof element which can be manufactured completely in the factory, so that no complementary work, such as for instance roofing, has to be carried out at the building site, which element, besides, is of a very light weight and therefore well adapted to be transported from the factory to the building site and to be handled there.

The root element according to the invention is substantially characterized in that it comprises a structure built of two vertically extending sidepieces of metal sheet and a bottom, reinforced by suitably spaced transverse reinforcing sheets extending between the side-pieces and including insulation material. The vertically extending side-pieces of the structure have portion of substantially N-shaped cross-section to form projections and corresponding grooves, the projection of one side-piece of a roof element being adapted to engage and co-operate with the groove in the side-piece of the adjacent roof element, in such a manner, that the roof elements upon their laying are drawn towards each other. The roof elements thus placed are fixed in relation to each other. Each roof element further comprises a roofing sheet forming the outer roof and covering the insulation material, said roofing sheet being so secured on the structure as to be movable in relation thereto in order to allow for motions caused by temperature changes, and said roofing sheet at its longitudinal outer edge portions being so shaped, that it may be sealingly joined with the roofing sheet of the adjacent roof element.

Brief description of the drawings One embodiment of the root element according to the invention is described in the following, by way of an example, with reference to the accompanying drawings wherein FIG. 1 shows a horizontal view of a portion of a roof formed by roof elements according to the invention,

FIG. 2 shows a section along the line IIII in FIG. 1,

FIGS. 35 show a section along the lines III-III, IV- IV and VV respectively in FIG. 2,

FIG. 6 shows the connection of roofing sheets with the side pieces, and

FIG. 7 shows a perspective view of roof elements joined and mounted on supporting beams.

Description of the preferred embodiment As appears from FIG. 2, the shown embodiment of the prefabricated roof element which generally is designated by 1 comprises two parallel side-pieces or side-sheets 2 and 3, both of which are load-carrying. These side-pieces are so shaped, for example by bending, rolling or pressing, that the upper vertical panel portion 4 of the side-pieces is staggered side-ways and in parallel relation to the lower vertical panel portion 5, in such a manner, that the angle alpha between the upper vertical portion 4 and the lower vertical portion 5, respectively, and that portion of the sidepieces which forms the inclined connecting panel piece 6 between said vertical portions, is acute, and that the upwardly open groove 7 thereby formed in the side-piece '3 and extending along the entire length of the roof element is adapated to receive the corresponding projection 8 on the side-piece 2 of the adjacent roof element, as appears from FIG. 2. By giving the side-pieces the said N-shaped design, the roof elements can be joined one with the other without any special connecting members, such as screws and rivets, or welding, being required for connecting the adjacent side-pieces with each other. Consequently, the mounting of the root element according to the invention can be carried out very rapidly by a small team.

The side-pieces are connected with each other by a plurality of reinforcing sheets 9 suitably spaced along the entire length of the roof element and provided with a flange 10 extending substantially all around (see FIGS.

35). Said reinforcing sheets which at their ends correspond to the cross-sectional shape of the side-pieces, are by rivets 11, screws, welding or in another suitable way fastened both to the side-pieces 2 and 3 (FIG. 3) and to a sheet 12 (FIG. 5) which forms the underroof or bottom member of the roof element, said sheet 12 being corrugated and supported by the inwardly bent flanges 13 of the side-pieces. Between the side-pieces 2 and 3 and the inner roof sheet 12, a moisture-repellent seal 14 is arranged.

As appears from FIG. 2, the side-sheets 2 and 3 further are provided with an upper inwardly bent flange 15 which together with the upper flanged surface of the reinforcing sheets (see FIG. 4)in the embodiment shown said surface has concave shape--forms the support for the roof sheet 16 which extends along the entire length of the roof element without transverse joints. The roof sheet 16 has substantially vertical longitudinal edge portions 17 which at the upper end are pre-bent in the manner appearing from FIG. 6, so that the roof sheets 16 are relatively easily folded together when the roof elements are being mounted at the building site. It is to be observed, that the roof sheets shall have such a width that they do not abut to each other, but that there remains a space between the vertical edge portions 17 of two adjacent roof sheets,-as appears from FIG. 2. Said space constitutes a continuation of a space formed between the upper inwardly stepped portions of the adjacent side-pieces. Owing to this space between adjacent roof sheets 16, and to some extent owing to the curved shape of the roof sheets, the roof sheets 16 can freely expand in the event of temperature changes. This expansion does not destructively affect the folds between the roof sheets, which makes that the folds remain water-proof for a very long time.

The roof sheet 16 is placed loosely on the supporting flanges of the reinforcing sheets 9 (see FIG. 4) in order not to block the motions of the roof sheet due to temperature changes, and sheet 16 is secured along its opposing longitudinal edges by special band clamps 18 and 19 which at one end are slidably mounted in longitudinal slots 20 in the side-pieces 2 and 3. The other end of the clamps is bent over the pre-bent edge portions 17, as appears clearly from FIG. 6. The clamps 18 provided on one side, thus, are intended ot serve merely as transport or temporary clamps and are removed before the roof sheet 16 of adjacent roofing elements are being folded together. The clamps 19 provided on the other side of the roofing element, however, are intended to remain in place and are additionally clamped together over the vertical edge portions of the roof sheet in connection with the folding operation, as appears from FIG. 2. These clamps, thus, are intended to secure the roof sheets in place.

The roof element according to the invention is further provided with suitable insulation 21 inserted between the roof sheet 16 and the inner roof sheet 12 (see FIGS. 2 and 7).

All components comprised in the basic structure of the roof element are made of sheet metal with a thickness adapted for every individual element. The side-pieces 2 and 3 and the reinforcing sheets 9 may preferably be made of galvanized sheet metal, the roof sheets 16 and the inner roof sheet 12 being made of aluminium metal sheet.

The roof elements according to the invention can be mounted in a very simple manner by any person who need not have any training. The first element being laid on the support beams 22 at and in parallel with one short wall, see FIG. 7, should face inwards with that side which is provided with the upwardly open groove 7. The next roof element can then be lifted, for example by a crane, and thereafter so lowered that the projection 8 thereon is placed in the groove 7. Due to the fact, that the connecting piece 6 is inclined in the way described above, the roof element being lowered is automatically drawn toward the element already mounted. In the groove of said latter element a sealing strip 23 is placed. The roof elements are secured on the beams 22 in some suitable way, and the roof sheets are folded together after the temporary clamps 18 had been removed mechanically.

The shown embodiment of the roof elements is particularly adapted for flat roofs, because the roof sheet 16 of every element is shaped like a chute, having its deepest point in its center. Consequently, all water collected by a roof sheet, runs to the center of the element, whereby the greatest possible amount of water runs 01f. The present roof element, of course, may also be applied to inclined roofs and to buildings of all existing type, without any restriction. For comparison it can be mentioned that the roof element according to the invention has a weight of 16 to 29 kg./m. depending on the material or materials being used, versus about kg./ m. for roofs of lightweightconcrete.

What I claim is:

1. A prefabricated sheet metal roofing element comprising a sheet metal bottom member of substantially rectangular exterior configuration, spaced first and second sheet metal side members extending in generally vertical directions along a pair of opposing edges respectively of said bottom member, each of said side members comprising upper and lower generally vertically extending panel portions horizontally spaced from one another and having ends which overlap one another vertically, the overlapping ends of said vertically extending panel portions on each side member being interconnected by an inclined intervening panel portion, whereby each of said side members exhibits a generally N-shaped section with the two legs of said N extending vertically upwardly and downwardly respectively relative to the opposing ends of the inclined portion of said N, the inclined portions of said N shaped sections being generally parallel to one another in said first and second side members so that the N-shaped section of one of said side members defines an exterior upwardly opening acute angle between the inclined portion of said N and the upper vertical panel portion on said one side member, and the N-shaped section of the other of said side members defines an exterior downwardly opening acute angle between the inclined portion of said N and the lower vertical panel portion on said other side member, whereby a plurality of such roofing elements may be laid in side-by-side relation to one another by placing the downwardly open angle section of the side member of one roofing element over the upwardly opening angle section of the side member of an adjacent roofing element, a plurality of spaced generally vertical reinforcing sheet members extending in generally parallel relation to one another between said first and second side members, said reinforcing sheet members having edge configurations conforming in shape to the N-shaped sections of said side members, a roofing sheet extending between said side members and over said reinforcing sheet members in spaced relation to said bottom member, the edges of said roofing sheet adjacent each of said side members being provided with upwardly extending flanges portions of which are shaped to permit the edges of said roofing sheet to be interlocked with the edges of roofing sheets on adjacent roofing elements when a plurality of such roofing elements are laid in side-by-side relation to one another, first clamp means between one of said upwardly extending flanges and its adjacent side member for displaceably securing said one flange to said adjacent side member, second clamp'means between the other of said upwardly extending flanges and its adjacent side member for temporarily securing said other flange to this adjacent side member, said second clamp means adapted to be removed when the edges of roofing sheets on adjacent roofing elements are interlocked with one another, the remainder of said roofing sheet between said first and second clamp means being free to move relative to said reinforcing sheet members to compensate for temperature changes.

2. The structure of claim 1 including insulation material disposed within the volume bounded by said bottom member, said side members, and said roofing sheet.

3. The structure of claim 1 wherein said roofing sheet is of smoothly curved configuration, the spacing between said roofing sheet and said bottom member being at a maximum adjacent each of said side members and being at a minimum substantially mid-way between said side members.

4. The structure of claim 1 wherein each of said reinforcing sheet members is provided with an upper flange extending transverse to said sheet member adjacent an upper edge of said sheet members, said roofing sheet resting slidably on said upper flanges of said reinforcing sheet members.

5. The structure of claim 1 wherein said side members are provided with slots, said first and second clamp means including hook portions engaging said slots'and further hook portions extending over the free edges of said upwardly extending roofing sheet flanges.

6. The structure of claim 1 wherein the upper vertical panel of each of said side members is stepped inwardly to form a space between the side pieces of adjacent roof elements when such adjacent roof elements are laid in side-by-side relation to one another.

7. The structure of claim 1 wherein the lower vertical panel of each of said side members includes an inwardly extending flange, said bottom member extending between and being fixedly attached to said inwardly extending side member flanges.

8. The structure of claim 7 wherein each of said reinforcing sheet members is provided with a lower flange extending transverse to said sheet member adjacent a lower edge of said sheet member, said bottom member being fixedly attached to said lower flanges of said reinforcing sheet members.

9. The structure of claim 8 wherein said bottom member is of corrugated configuration.

10. The structure of claim 1 including sealing means located within said upwardly open angle section of said roofing element side member for providing a seal between adjacent such roof elements when they are laid in side-byside relation to one another.

11. The structure of claim 1 including moisture repellent sealing means between said bottom member and each of said side members.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 403,844 5/1889 Kanneberg 52520 1,882,105 10/1932 Wonder 52520 2,142,305 1/1939 Davis 52593 2,209,816 7/ 1940 Grapp 52404 2,744,589 5/ 1956 Jenkins 526 1 8 3,062,337 11/1962 Zittle 52618 3,243,929 4/1966 Strandlund 52615 3,267,626 8/1966 Daly 52-588 3,320,708 5/1967 Bard 52404 HENRY C. SUTHERLAND, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 

